Numerical Study of Enhancement of the Casimir Force between Silicon Membranes by Irradiation with UV Laser

Abstract

Irradiation generates free carriers inside silicon and it can cause enhancement of the Casimir force between silicon membranes. We study numerically the temporal behavior of the Casimir force between two parallel silicon membranes after irradiating the surface with UV pulse laser. In the calculation, the free carrier density is obtained by solving the diffusion equation with the generation and recombination terms, and the dielectric function of the illuminated silicon is calculated from them by employing the Drude model. Based on the Lifshitz theory accounting for thickness of the slabs, we calculate the Casimir force as a function of time and consider the finite size effect of the thickness.